hot town, summer in the city

let it rain, let it pour, let it rain a whole lot more

Sure is thundery.

On the way to work, I passed a hand-written sign outside a convenience store that said “$2 pizza whit cans soda!” On the way home, the space where the “whit” had been was smudged and replaced with “with.” For some reason this made me smile.

The Neimans

I can’t really write a post that lives up to this title. But here are at least some explanatory notes…

I’m in Woodstock right now for my mom’s Neiman reunion. The Neiman fellowship is a program at Harvard for accomplished youngish journalists. My mom was an investigative reporter, and has more crazy/fascinating stories than I can include. She also won a Pulitzer for one of her documentaries.

I have never watched any of said documentaries — partially explained by the fact that many weren’t appropriate for me to watch when I was little (the Pulitzer was awarded for a doc on child abuse), but as for the years that I have been old enough, I don’t have a great explanation. It’s funny because this part of her career was years before I was born, so it sometimes escapes my overall image of Mama (viewage is planned for when I’m home in a few weeks). Either way! I am so proud of her work.

Anyway, this whole group of Neimans is wonderful and interesting and great fun to talk to and I sometimes forget how successful and brilliant a career in journalism EACH ONE has had. Kind of an embarrassment of riches deal. The reunions are usually composed of the most stimulating discussions I’ve had in a while, and also the most laughing, and every time we’re all together I learn so much just by listening.

The journalism side of their Neiman year was supplemented by classes at Harvard and visits from Julia Child, Gerry Ferraro, etc etc. I hope I have the opportunity to form such a great group of friends & colleagues.

On a less pensive note…at the end of the evening my mom, Nancy and I were talking about my mom’s upcoming business trip to Kyrgyzstan (which I still can’t spell on the first try). Then my mom says, “Yeah so I think I’m going to take a weekend and stay in a yurt!”

Probably the best mom quote ever. I hope she takes photos of the fermented mare’s milk reserved for honored guests…

DR JOHN

I saw Dr John on Saturday evening, in Prospect Park, with Alvin & Renata. Perfect weather. He donned a pink suit with sunglasses and a feathered cane, and played Such a Night for the encore.

The Doctor played with his band, the Lower 911, which was clearly his band because of how tastefully & sparsely & perfectly they played…really wonderful concert.

Inside and Outside

I work with clients who sometimes have to choose between paying for prescriptions and buying enough food; who can’t work because publicly funded daycare is frozen and they have no other options. I talk with these people on the phone and search for resources for them until about 4:30 or 5pm, at which time I walk to the bus stop.

The bus I take, the M4, conveniently stops only a few blocks from my office at Madison and 55th Street. Before I even get to the stop, I’ve already passed Coach, Mont Blanc, Armani, Sony’s headquarters, and hundreds of walking feet clothed in shoes that cost as much as one of my patients makes in a month.

During my first walk to the M4, I was kind of fascinated by the area, peeking inside windows and people-watching like crazy. But as the glitz turned into the scenery of my commute, and I began to consider it more objectively, the difference between what I encountered in the office and what I encountered on the street outside the office became pretty stark.

I’ll write more about this later – just wanted to record some thoughts.

Quotations

Lex Avenue businessman to friend while eating lunch:

“Cockroaches…they’re like Keith Richards in insect form. You can’t kill ‘em.”

Fellow visitor to the Cone Sisters exhibit at the Jewish Museum:

“The sisters were crazy, really. Or as my dad used to say: ‘If you’re poor you’re crazy, if you’re rich you’re eccentric.’ So they were eccentric.”

Speaking of the Jewish Museum: the exhibit on the Cone sisters was great; the Maira Kalman exhibit was incredible. I’m definitely going back. Creativity and intellect and ability and social commentary and beauty all in one… She had a big quote on the wall from Madame Bovary:

“…as if the fulness of the soul did not sometimes overflow in the emptiest metaphors, since no one can ever give the exact measure of his needs, nor of his conceptions, nor of his sorrows; and since human speech is like a cracked tin kettle, on which we hammer out tunes to make the bears dance when we long to move the stars.”

I love that quote.

Catching Up

I have a lot to write about.

First: I just finished eating one of those little yellow mangoes that I bought in a “surplus fruit” bag at Westside Market. The bags contain about 8 pieces of fruit that are dinged up or otherwise marred but perfectly eatable. And the whole thing costs $1.50. A good discovery of the summer.

I had a highly successful double cod upon arriving home in Florida last week. Neither Sol nor my dad knew I was coming. Sol first saw me through the rear view mirror of our van at the airport, expecting a delivery-person with a package for my mom. His eyes widened cartoon-style. Glen, my dad’s great (in all senses of the word) friend from college, helped me surprise my dad. I walked in with Sol as dad + friends were playing music; my dad was guitaring with his back to the door and didn’t see or hear me. Glen, serving drinks, asked my dad if he wanted ice; I walked in with the glass and said “here you go.” I think it’s not exaggerating to say he was floored, and it’s definitely not exaggerating to say it was a lot of fun.

Florida was relaxing and humid and great. I saw a few high school friends and took Sol to camp and got new running shoes and spent a lot of time with family. It really felt like a vacation.

The next weekend took me, Sol, and Mama to St Louis for our annual family gathering - I am always thankful for how close & wonderful my family is. My cousins are some of my best friends. A highlight: seeing the “house on Yale” where my mom and her siblings grew up. Even more wonderful than I imagined it. I loved & savored walking through the rooms with Mama & AK & Uncle Kiwi & Aunt Lisa and hearing them narrate the space.

I came back to a lovely package from my Nana and cooler weather. Also to the discovery that the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) is 5 blocks from my work, and has free concerts in the sculpture garden every Thursday night. A good welcome back…

Flight back

Arrived back at LGA last night, 9:55pm. One of the best flights in a while. The clouds were amazing, I read NYMagazine, I listened to John Prine, and the pilot took us directly over midtown. Beautiful in a different way than landing by the Gulf in Tampa, but still beautiful.